Distortion of Kien's soul (pg63)

Throughout the book we are constantly reminded about how war distorts one’s soul. Kien’s tortured soul is the main contributor to his ongoing suffering. War has slowly aged Kien physically as well as spiritually. When Kien finally catches a glimpse of his “blank” reflection in the mirror, “his wrinkles, the circles under his eyes” show Kien’s physical deterioration. Kien’s physical deterioration reflects the deterioration of his soul. Kien no longer showed interest in living his post war life. Kien becomes “bored with his university studies.” He spends the rest of his post war life drinking, to escape to the few innocent memories before the outbreak of war. Kien’s soul could never recover from the brutality of war. He can never seem to get over the past, often found himself suffering from his “poisonous nightmares” of battle. The distortion of Kein’s soul has lead to the uncontrollable nostalgia Kien is forced to live the rest of his life with.

The Sorrow of War (pg160) The symbol of Phuong

Phuong’s youth and innocence represents the youth and innocence of Vietnam before war broke out. By looking at the effects war impacted on Phuong, we are able to understand what war has done to Vietnam as a whole. We are able to understand how war has forever scarred Vietnam by impacting many generations of its people. We see this through how war has forcefully taken the joyous youth Phuong was entitled to as a teenager. War forces her to grow up quickly in order to deal with the dangerous situation, she is raped and forced to lead a harsh life due to the war. Just like how invasions forced Vietnam to quickly grow up and fight to protect themselves, this meant that Vietnam had no choice but to give up what they had. Phuong’s post war sufferings also represent Vietnam’s suffering even though they won the war. Although the war is over, a spiritual suffering still haunts Phuong, her and Kien try and regain the passionate love they had prior to war as a way to regain the happy pre war lives they lived, however that passion is long gone due to the harsh spiritual damages the war has had on both of them. This represents what war has done to the Vietnamese, it represents that people come back from war trying to lead the life they had been living prior to war, however somehow the people cannot continue as it was before and it is scary because war changes people.

Hao

Hoa’s relationship with Kien

Kien is forced to rely on Hoa for directions in a desperate and deadly situation. Kien uses force and treats Hoa harshly at first. Yet Hoa still tries to earn his forgiveness.

Kien's attitude towards Hoa changes after she safely takes him to the right location and they are able share a peaceful moment together

Later Hoa sacrifices herself for Kien and the others by shooting the tracking dog and diverting the Americans

This becomes Kien’s most memorable escapes

- The borders of morality shifts in battle

When Kien brutally says: "you ought to be shot, but bullets wouldn't be good enough." it seems unnecessarily harsh. However, in the mist of battle, when the stakes are high, morality shifts. In some ways his words are justifiable because due to her mistake, Hoa placed the lives of many in danger.

Later when they are back on the right track and are clear of danger, Kien's mood softens and he realizes how close he had come to shooting "a teenage girl because she'd lost her way in unfamiliar jungle."

Now that the pressure has been lifted, he is able to treat her as a human being. And his morality shifts back.

- War can bring out the best of people and the worst

From the pressures of war, a darker side of Kien is brought to light from his harsh threats towards Hoa. Soldiers become so accustomed to killing, they become barbaric and seem to find violence is the only way to solve disputes.

However by killing the tracking dog and diverting the Americans, Hoa's noble act of self sacrifice shows us that war can also bring out the best in people.

- War brings out the "spiritual beauty" of war through the acts of courage by "nameless ordinary soldiers"

Hoa had been like the many other “nameless ordinary soldiers.” She had not even reached 20 when she gave her life for the safety of others. Before this noble act Kien saw her as “little Hoa.” The Americans were well armed and very powerful. To stand strong in face of certain death takes much bravery. This is a quality Kien did not expect Hoa to posses, Hoa herself probably did not think she possessed such bravery herself which is what makes her sacrifice so beautiful.

When Hoa emerges from the ant-hill, ready to give her life, the writer uses a semantic field of fire related words to describe her. In this paragraph words such as: “final rays of the setting sun silhouetted her... tingeing her skin copper... bronze statue” are used to reflect her fiery fierceness and help highlight her bravery and honours the “spiritual beauty” of her heroic actions.

- However, most of these noble acts go unrecognised

Hoa “was a magnificent portrait of courage." She saved Kien’s life and many others. Even though she had vanished, “not one of them asked about Hoa”. Hoa’s self sacrifice affected Kein heavily, yet she only drifts back into Kien’s mind when he returns to the area where it all happened. Acts of self sacrifice were common during war, it became “expected” and an “everyday occurrence.” This sadly means that such brave actions go unrecognised and forgotten over time.

- This is adds to the "immense sorrow of war"

Because Hoa’s brave act went unrecognised, this adds to the sadness Kien carries. Kien feels a heavy burden that it is his fault Hoa’s bravery was not acknowledged. It is also because others have sacrificed lives so he could live which meant he could not kill himself to “escape the psychological burden of killing others.” All these factors add to the “immense sorrow of war” Kien suffers.

Essay planning

Often the setting in a text will carry symbolic significance, supporting as well the writer's key themes. Discuss these concepts in the light of The Sorrow of War.

-constant mention of the river. The river is used as a metaphor of life. This metaphor is used by the writer to express how war tampers with life in destructive ways.
-pg1 constant mention to water which links to rotting
"water-soaked and dull.. greenish vapour... carpet of rotting leaves"
water links to the river which is a significant symbol.
-pg4 setting symbolizes the eternal scarring war was on the landscape.
"set the village alight to cleanse it, but after the fire soldiers were still terrified.."
this touches on the spiritual side of this novel.
-the setting of the entire book is untidy and uncontrollable, reflecting the battle field and the inside of Kien's mind.

Essay planning:

Introduction: Introduce the key themes of the book as: how war can leave a permanent suffering on all those who participate, the dead and living. Bring in the theme of a spiritual world. Explore briefly how the writer uses symbols in the setting to express this key theme.

Paragraph 1: Using the metaphor of the river and quotes explore the effect of war on the living. Also use quotes from other examples throughout the book

Paragraph 2: Using the metaphor of the river and quotes explore the effect of war on the dead/spirits. Also use quotes from other examples thorughout the book.

Paragraph 3: Explore what connects the two, sorrow of war for the living and dead. close analysis using clear evidence from text.

Conclusion: summarise the key themes supported by the setting in the text: how war effects the living and non, how they are connected and the importance of the setting in the text.

Character study: Hoa in the Sorrow of War.

How does Hoa effect Kien?

-Kien is forced to rely on Hoa even though he does not trust her
-Kien is horrid to to Hoa for her innocent mistakes
"It's not a mistake, it's a f***ing crime" Kien says
-However Hoa still desperately keeps trying to earn his forgivness
-They share a special moment together
-Hoa sacrificed her life for him by shooting dead the tracking dog

Through the behaviour Kien shows around Hoa helps us understand how war can change you. Hoa never crossed Kien, and desperately tried to gain his trust. However Kien does not let her in easily. The constant fighting and killing has made it difficult to trust easily. It is from Kien's story with Hoa that we come to see in detail the effects war has on the soldiers.

symbolic significance supporting the writer's key themes in the Sorrow of War

Pg4

Here Kien is on his body collecting mission, putting to rest the bodies and souls of the soldiers who died fighting in the war. There is a strong presence of the spiritual realm in this passage. “Disease and successive famines had erased all life” and they “set the village alight to cleanse it.” However even after the fire “soldiers were still terrified” of the place because of the “civilian souls loose in the wood.”

From this passage the writer explores the erasable damage war causes. They can try destroying the physical evidence by burning it however the souls of all those killed in war will always haunt the area and the sorrow of war will forever be marked in the Jungle of Lost Souls.

In the line: “emitting a stink that penetrated the imagination” has symbolic significance in supporting the writer’s key themes. The “stink” symbolizes the sorrow of war. This line represents how the impact the sorrow of war can get to even the bravest of men, even those who do not believe in an afterlife. This supports the key theme of the strong spiritual force the sorrow of war has on all people.

Background reading on The Sorrow of War

Innocents Abroad Too: Journeys Around the World on Semester at Sea by Michael Pearson.

In the Vietnam chapter of the book, the author talks about his experience of the Vietnam War even though he did not participate in the physical fighting.

Even though the author was American, he still felt for what the Americans had done to Vietnam after reading The Sorrow of War. He expressed that Boa Ninh's book had a heavy impact due to the insight it gave the readers to the scaring effects the war had on the Vietnamese.

The author tells the reader about a friend. He describes this friend as being "a confident, smiling boy, the companion who always knows how to talk to the girls, the one who always finds the right thing to say." He later goes to fight in the Vietnam War and returns "a silent older man." This displays the common traumatic scarring war has on almost all of whom survive.

Whilst The Sorrow of War tells the story from a survivor’s point of view, Innocents Abroad Too: Journey around the world on semester at sea tells the story from an observer. What he observed was war completely change this young man. War took away “confident, smiling boy" and replaced him with a stranger. In the end, the author simply just "wanted [his] old friend back." Sadly it was too late and "he was gone forever."

This change of personality was common for all who fought in the war. As humans we experience guilt, and how is it possible to not feel guilt when you kill? This would likely to lead up to constant stress for the family and friends of these soldiers. Even if they survived(which was unlikely) they had become a different person. This could lead up to stress on families when the surviving soldiers return home, bringing with them the sorrow of war.